Power Outage Could Disrupt Metro-North’s New Haven Line For Weeks: Report

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) worker looks out for commuters before the train's departure at Grand Central Station in New York, February 2, 2013.
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

An electrical outage that resulted in Metro-North’s New Haven line to be suspended on Wednesday will take at least two more weeks to repair, reports said.

The power problem, caused by a high-voltage Con Edison feeder cable, had stopped all train services between New York City and New Haven, Conn., on Wednesday morning, frustrating commuters.

"Company crews are working around the clock to make repairs to a feeder cable that failed earlier today, but repairs of this nature typically take 2-3 weeks,” Con Edison said in a statement. “Another feeder normally providing service to the New Haven line was out on scheduled repairs to accommodate Metro-North upgrades on their equipment."

Amtrak trains in areas served by Metro-North were also delayed on Wednesday due to the circuit failure, and Boston.com reported that Amtrak’s Acela service between New York and Boston has been canceled on Thursday due to the power outage.

Officials were working on Thursday to find an alternative power source to rectify the problem as tens of thousands of commuters use the Metro-North network to travel to their workplaces daily. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a statement on its website that limited bus and train services will be launched on Thursday to facilitate commuters during morning peak hours.

However, according to Associated Press, Metro-North will be able to accommodate only about 33 percent of regular commuters and urged people to find an alternate source of transportation.

“I'm just trying to get through the next two days," Pete Hartney, 64, who makes a daily two-hour commute from Guilford, Conn., to New York City told AP on Wednesday. "I'm going to try to put up with whatever they throw our way for the next few days, then formulate a plan over the weekend."

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy said, at a news conference on Wednesday, that the New Haven Line was the busiest in the nation and it served 125,000 passengers daily. He also urged passengers to carpool or work from home.

"This is going to be a substantial disruption for a substantial period of time," Malloy said, according to AP. "Folks, plan on long-term lack of service or being underserved."